31 March 2015

Theatre Matters - UK Theatre has drawn up an arts policy wish list for the incoming government. In a new advocacy document - Theatre Matters - published ahead of the general election in May, the membership body said the arts should receive the same additional investment and focus as the so-called STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. It also calls for a safeguarded funding system whereby the Treasury would increase arts subsidy if National Lottery sales were to fall. UK Theatre president Rachel Tackley said: "... More >>

Germany - Avolites will launch its live control-focused Arena console at Prolight+Sound 2015 in Frankfurt. Offering "more live control than ever before", the Avolites Arena is designed for festivals, theatres and anywhere that a larger control surface is required. It combines the popular interface of the Tiger Touch II with 30 additional Playback faders and expanded live control options and features. Alongside the main display, a second touch screen provides an additional workspace window, also labelling the adjacent macro buttons and ... More >>

Germany - Impressive acrobatic performances and the play of light and shadows are the ingredients for the tour of Shadowland - a performance piece from the Connecticut-based dance company Piobolus. With their bodies, the performers create shadow silhouettes including those of elephants, faces, buildings and cars. Assisting with this shadow play are several ETC Source Four incandescent fixtures, as well as Gio and Ion lighting control systems. In Germany, the spectacular show became famous through appearances on popular television ... More >>

Cyprus - LumenRadio continues the expansion of its global distribution network with the appointment of ArchiLX as exclusive distributor in Cyprus. With immediate effect, the CRMX product lines will be the only wireless offering to ArchiLX's impressive customer list. Based in Limassol, ArchiLX serves clients across the island with dynamic lighting schemes ranging from large-scale installations and shows to interior fixtures and fittings. Their extensive portfolio of products represents a broad range of solutions across lighting, audio ... More >>

UK - Ant and Dec's award winning Saturday Night Takeaway has returned to TV screens for its 12th series, kicking off with a new stunt for the Ant v Dec challenge. With a track record for pulling off some amazing stunts in the previous series, ITV Studios brought Unusual Rigging back on board to ensure the latest challenge, watched by more than six million viewers, was even more spectacular. Unusual's Robin Elias said: "Having pulled out all the stops in series 11 with the Men on a Ledge and Lift Shaft challenges, the production ... More >>

UK - Chauvet Europe is going blue to help fight a disorder that affects an estimated 52m people throughout the world, and the company, along with PLSN editor and noted LD Nook Schoenfeld, is hoping that other lighting industry members join in this effort. On 30 March, the company lit its facilities in the United Kingdom and Belgium, as well as its US headquarters a bright royal blue to kick off the week leading up to World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April. A longtime advocate of autism research and care, Schoenfeld was influential in ... More >>

UK - Last week Sky News held a live debate between Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Miliband as part of the Battle for Number 10. The show was hosted by Jeremy Paxman. Richard Martin Lighting (RML) provided the lights to LD Richard Bowles. Outside in the main atrium there was a huge array of lights which could be seen for miles, including 24 SGM P5 and six recently upgraded Super-Novas. There were also Chroma Flood TC, City Colours and 12 Clay Paky Mythos. Inside the main studio, the look of the show was strong, sharp and sensible, ... More >>

Germany - At Frankfurt next month, Eaton will introduce the FLX console, part of the Zero 88 Series. The company says: "It's clean, straightforward, intuitive user Interface offers tools like Patch Wizard and Auto Palettes to consolidate all the prep work, leaving LDs, programmers and operators free to work faster and more harmoniously." FLX offers 2,048 freely assignable control channels with no fixture patch limitations and is supported by four rotary encoders, 24 dedicated playback faders (with 10 pages) and four UDK's (User ... More >>

Germany - UK-based instrumentation specialist Mantracourt has announced that its BroadWeigh wireless load monitoring system is to be exhibited at the Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (15-18 April). Mantracourt's technical partners AC Entertainment (Hall 9, Stand D47), Hof Alutec (Hall 9, Stand D60) and Louis Reyners (Hall 9, Stand E95) will be exhibiting at this event and visitors will have the opportunity to experience a full demonstration of the BroadWeigh system and meet key staff from Mantracourt. The BroadWeigh portable ... More >>

Hong Kong - The Year of the Goat has already proved that it brings prosperity for Pacific Lighting (HK) Ltd with Robert Juliat sales. "We have received several orders for Robert Juliat products over the past weeks, most of which have been totally unexpected," says Pacific Lighting (HK) Ltd director, Hugh Chinnick. The Tai Po Civic Centre, managed by the Leisure & Cultural Service Department of the Government, began the good fortune by purchasing 30 Robert Juliat Lutin Fresnels. "Their requirements for the new fixtures were that they ... More >>

USA - Lighting designer Andrew Cass chose Ayrton MagicPanel 602 and MagicBlade-R LED fixtures for his dynamic lighting of The String Cheese Incident, which toured the US from late summer 2014 to early 2015. The String Cheese Incident is a Colorado band with an eclectic style that encompasses elements of bluegrass, rock, electronica, calypso, country, funk, jazz and more. Cass put together a vibrant and colourful lighting design which reflected the variety and dynamism of the band's diverse style. "Colours are my signature - I'm an ... More >>

USA - Maroon 5 are currently on tour promoting their new album V which debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200. Escondido-based Sound Image is providing a 54-module EAW Anya system complete with 24 SB2001 subwoofers and eight KF364 point source systems as front-fill in support of the tour. "The Anya PA is very exciting to mix on," explains FOH engineer Jim Ebdon in describing Anya. "I'm amazed by the consistency of the coverage." Andrew Dowling, Sound Image system tech for the tour, adds, "When we compared Jim's mix on Anya and ... More >>

Uruguay - The Sodre National Auditorium (Auditorio Nacional del Sodre) in Uruguay has chosen a self-powered Meyer Sound Mina line array loudspeaker system as the first permanent reinforcement system in the 1,900-capacity venue. The upgrade has ushered in a new era for the vibrant local arts community, which now has a performance space that shares high-quality reinforcement with Mina-equipped halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Festhalle in Germany. In addition to the system's adaptability to the venue's diverse ... More >>

Germany - A Martin Audio MLA Mini, featuring the company's award-winning Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array technology, is playing a central role in the technical upgrade of the Elspe Festival in Germany. One of the largest and most visited show and festival parks in Europe, the 120,000sq.m site is located in the Sauerland Elspe, in Olpe, South Westphalia. Each year Elspe Festival invests heavily in conservation and upgrading of the infrastructure to preserve its wild west theme, and welcome the Karl May Festival. This is when Winnetou ... More >>

USA - Southern Adventist University, recognized as one of the top tier southern regional colleges, recently took delivery of a substantial sound-reinforcement system incorporating loudspeakers drawn from the catalogue of WorxAudio Technologies, a division of PreSonus Audio Electronics. Deployed in the Iles Physical Education Centre, the facility upgrade includes elements from WorxAudio's TrueLine and WaveSeries series. Sound Ventures / Lunar Cinema of Knoxville, Tennessee, an AV production services and design firm dedicated to live ... More >>

Germany - Host Thomas Gottschalk, takes celebrities back to their school days in the second season of Back to School, RTL Network's popular quiz game show, and Elation Professional's award-winning Sniper is along for the nostalgia, providing flexible special effect lighting looks. Lighting designer Thomas Gerdon of gerdon Mediasign has mounted 24 Snipers along with LED wash lights on movable truss towers so they can be moved back and forth between the set's two stages for special musical performances. "There are two musical ... More >>

UK - AV technology pioneer Peerless-AV has appointed Stuart Robson-Frisby as director of business development for EMEA. Leveraging over 10 years' industry experience in business negotiation, channel and end user sales management, Stuart will be responsible for helping to identify and secure new business opportunities in key vertical sectors throughout EMEA territories. "Peerless-AV is on an exciting journey as it grows from a successful mounts company to also becoming a recognised global player in Emerging Technology solutions," said ... More >>

USA - At the 2015 NAB Show, Renewed Vision will evolve the storytelling and production capabilities of ProPresenter for broadcast studios, sports venues and live corporate, worship and entertainment events, with an array of new tools and features that amplify the way live production teams present dynamic, high-quality content. Like previous-generation versions, ProPresenter 6 is, at its core, a cross-platform (Mac and Windows) lyric, slide, and media presentation package. It merges dynamic multiscreen software with off-the-shelf ... More >>